Fact-Check: Ruto says only two women promises remain. Is that true?

When President William Ruto launched the Kenya Kwanza Women Charter a few months before the 2022 General Election, he made a series of specific pledges to Kenyan women, from healthcare and cabinet representation to school feeding and bursaries.

Speaking during the Presidential Town Hall, one of the sessions held as part of the National Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi last week, the President said he had fulfilled most of the pledges he made to women in the Kenya Kwanza Women Charter, adding that only two remained.

We tracked each pledge in the charter and where it currently stands.

Hustler healthcare: Free NHIF insurance cards for indigent women and affordable income-based premiums for others

This promise evolved into the Social Health Authority (SHA) framework. Over 32.3 million Kenyans are now registered, and more than eight million people have received medical treatment under the system. The state has rolled out sponsored packages targeting over 2.2 million vulnerable Kenyans, with ongoing programmes intended to absorb additional low-income families through state allocations and county partnerships.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, about 1.08 million women have received free or subsidised maternity and delivery services, including over 22,000 teenage mothers.

Diaper support for mothers with newborns

This promise, free diapers for newborns for the first three months, has yet to be fulfilled. Ruto admitted his administration's failure to honour it, saying the government is finalising plans to include free diapers for new mothers as part of the expanded SHA maternal benefits package.